Not Guilty: Joliet Defense Attorney Chuck Bretz Victorious After His 'Corporal Punishment' Arrest

MORRIS, IL — For the second time in recent years, Joliet criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz has obtained a not-guilty verdict for himself. His latest favorable ruling came on Thursday for his Grundy County criminal case charging him with two crimes of domestic battery. An out-of-town judge based in Ottawa issued the ruling in favor of Bretz, who has been represented by Dave Carlson, a longtime Will County judge who returned to the practice as a criminal defense attorney a couple of years ago.

A copy of the LaSalle County Judge Michelle Vescogni's ruling is shared at the bottom of this story.

On Friday morning, Carlson spoke with Joliet Patch's editor and remarked how their bench trial judge "did the right thing. She followed the law, and she followed the evidence."

Carlson said Bretz's 2025 arrest surrounded an incident of corporal punishment, which is still legal, he emphasized. Carlson said that Bretz's 4-year-old child ran out into the street in downtown Minooka and that prompted alarm from both of her parents.

Carlson said that Bretz took the child into a downtown Minooka alley, out of the community's eyesight, and proceeded to discipline her. "She ran into the street, so he was disciplining the 4-year-old for running into the street," Carlson explained after achieving the victory. "He didn't want to make a spectacle of it. Parents still have a right to discipline their children, including disciplinary corporal punishment."

An employee at the Cookie's Restaurant witnessed the incident.

"The reality is, hopefully he can put this behind him," Carlson said of Bretz.

News of Bretz's two not-guilty verdicts was first reported by a newspaper outlet that is headquartered in Crystal Lake.

On Oct. 21, 2025, Joliet Patch reported that the Minooka Police Department's recent weekend arrest blotter contained the name of one of Joliet's sought-after criminal defense lawyers, a man who is often hired and paid several thousand dollars to represent Will County's first-degree murder defendants. For the second time in recent years, Joliet attorney Chuck Bretz found himself in trouble with the law.

At the time, Minooka Police Chief Justin Meyer explained that Bretz was arrested around the time of the annual Minooka Halloween parade. Minooka police were called to the downtown business district after witnesses saw Bretz using a belt to beat his 4-year-old family member in the 100 block of West Mondamin, near the corner of Wabena Street, according to the chief.

"Witnesses saw him beating a young child with a belt," Minooka's longtime police chief told Joliet Patch's editor in 2025.

Bretz is a Minooka resident, and police eventually obtained video surveillance from the area. Minooka police did not find Bretz at the downtown location after the incident but tracked him down by mid-afternoon, and he was arrested on domestic battery charges.

Meyer said the 4-year-old child was not seriously injured.

The last time Bretz was was arrested was by the Lockport Police Department.

In the summer of 2020, Joliet Patch reported that the prominent Joliet criminal defense attorney was found not guilty of driving under the influence or obstructing a police officer, a judge ruled during a bench trial.

Bretz was pulled over by Lockport police for speeding on Feb. 14, 2020, in the 700 block of Lockport's State Street and was later charged with DUI and obstructing a police officer.Carlson, then a Will County Circuit Court judge, found Bretz guilty of speeding but determined he was not guilty of DUI.

During the 2020 bench trial, Carlson viewed video of Bretz's arrest and heard testimony from Lockport police officer James Truhlar as well as that of another officer. Before the bench trial, Carlson had found in favor of Bretz during an evidentiary hearing in which the judge determined Bretz could continue with his driving privileges after his license was suspended after he was charged with the DUI offense.